You might be tempted to think that the ascension of Jesus Christ darkened this world, that the ascension of Christ means you cannot enjoy the things of earth. But these would be temptations indeed. The truth runs in the opposite direction. Our Lord’s ascension presses you further into earth. Like a ski boat that takes a hard left to whip the tube rider behind to the right, so Christ’s ascension has sent you into a life of meaningful barbeques, bike rides, and summer camps. 

Yes, indeed, you have acended with Christ and sit in heavenly places. But the thing that makes your worldly neighbors understandably uncomfortable is that you walk around in heavenly places right next door to them. You walk where angels trod in your sneakers. You’re dancing on the sides of the north in your living room. And that is the only way to play on the sides of the north anyway. If you try to ascend them, you will be in trouble like Lucifer (Isaiah 14:12-13). 

This whole matter leaves outsiders beffudlled at how you seem to be a bit of a stranger and an alien, while at the same time more human than anyone they have ever met, reminding them of what they once were in their father Adam and their mother Eve.